From WDW to DL With Love - January 06, 2011 part 3

[aan1701]

Monorails.org broke that story about 2 weeks ago. I asked Jeff about it then. He'll believe it when he sees it. When you understand that they haven't even rebuilt the other monorail yet, you understand why. (It's not that WDW hasn't tried to rebuild the monorail, they just can't find anyone who will).

We had the same problem here and finally got our new trains. I was just wondering, but maybe the did get someone to at least biuld track so it could be the start of something really cool. Well one can hope and dream.

 

[JenKatt]

But your new ones aren't really new, they're refurb'd. The chassis are the old Mark III monorails that they put a new shell on to make the Mark V and they took that shell off to make the new monorails. The destroyed monorail from the accident is a completely new monorail from the tires up. No one will make it. Not Bombadier or anyone. Not sure why, Jeff didn't get specific, but I would think monorails.org would have that info.
Building a spur isn't a big deal. It's just concrete. But as anything with Disney, we'll believe it when we see it.

 

[aan1701]

But your new ones aren't really new, they're refurb'd. The chassis are the old Mark III monorails that they put a new shell on to make the Mark V and they took that shell off to make the new monorails. The destroyed monorail from the accident is a completely new monorail from the tires up. No one will make it. Not Bombadier or anyone. Not sure why, Jeff didn't get specific, but I would think monorails.org would have that info.
Building a spur isn't a big deal. It's just concrete. But as anything with Disney, we'll believe it when we see it.

Yes, I too will believe it when I see it. Wonder why they can't get a contract to build new ones? Anyway like I said, I can hope and dream as I really love the Monorail. Well off to sleep now.

 

[dizzi]

Hello..

I see you guys have a very big thread going here...

That is sooooo awesome.

We are heavily considering this cruise.

IF we do this it would be like a celebration of many things and probally the most $$ i have ever spent on a vacation.
I have alwyas wanted to cruise through the Panama Canal and of course who else to do with than Disney!!!

But i have some questions if you dont mind answering them.
I am sure i could find them in the thread and IF we make up our mind i will definitley go back and read all this thread.

1. Those with kids HOW are you getting them out of school for such a long period of time....My son is under 18 but out of school but my dd would be 14 and in the 8th grade.

2. We just got off the wonder on a 5 day voyage and spent over $1000 in excursions etc....are any of you concerned with what you could possibily spend for 15 nights or is this a we are on vacca we will pay for it later or is it a will will definitley watch what we spend kind of thing????

3. How many formal nights will there be??

4. Will there be different things than pirate night??

and lastly for now i guess...

5. Do you think that there will be any special deals on this cruise later on that since we are only 5 months out that we should wait out a little bit more for??

WE GT A ROCKIN DEAL FOR OUR 5 night for a FLORIDA RESIDENT SPECIAL.

THANKS...HOPING TO SEE YOU ALL THERE...

 

[dizzi]

Those from florida.......

ARE YOU FLYING HOME?

Is this the best way to get home?

OF COURSE THE QUICKEST!!!

But would there be another way that would be less money for 4 people??

THANK YOU AGAIN

 

[dizzi]

sorry one more and then thats it.....this is a big major decisiosn for me as i am sure it was for all of you.

BUT

I was looking at the Main Page where everything is listed about FEs and so forth and I see you all only have 2 events planned.

Is that all or am i missing something.

Do you guys plan on meeting in the terminal,are you wearing the same shirt for the embarkation?

Any meet and greets?

sorry, just curious cuz the last cruise i was on, our thread barely moved....so just a bit thread envy going!!!

THANKS

 

[JenKatt]

Hi Lynn,

We are a busy thread, but we haven't officially planned much yet until we get past the paid in full date and people are more firm on going. We have a lot of things tentativly planned, but not much firm.
This is our second PC cruise. We know going into it that it will be expensive, but we're budgeting and planning. This cruise is not port intensive, like the Baltic or Med cruises. You can very cheaply do most of the ports by getting off the boat and heading to the beach or walking around.
Our son is only 3 so can't help you with the school bit. However there has been a lot of talk about it on the thread already.
There most likely be more than one formal night. Usually 2 and 2 semiformal nights. In the past there has been a tropical night and other themed nights. waiting on disney to give us an idea.
I don't know about deals. My gut tells me there will be. This is a difficult cruise to book for many, it's 2 weeks right after the holidays during school. The other PC crusies were sold out by now, and from the looks of it, we're not even close.
We live in Florida and were able to fly home (5 of us) for less than 1K. It's only a one way flight and sometimes (strangely) that can be more expensive than a round trip. However, for us it wasn't. And we got a red eye into Tampa, so we have the full day at Disneyland.
Hope this helps

 

[Happy Goofy]

We also will be flying back to FL. Any deals out there? Delta wants $288 plus about $25 for the first bag and about $35 for the second. We had a problem with Delta coming back from Barcelona and they gave us each $200 voucher so that will be a consideration. SW has not come up with late Jan. bookings.

 

[JenKatt]

We're shipping our suitcases back from DL instead of bringing them to the airport. It's about the same price but easier to deal with LAX. AirTran has had some phenomenal deals (my brother booked his PIT to MCO flight for $49. Yes it's AirTran, but for that price...

 

[DCL_FAN_TAC]

Hello..

I see you guys have a very big thread going here...

That is sooooo awesome.

We are heavily considering this cruise.

IF we do this it would be like a celebration of many things and probally the most $$ i have ever spent on a vacation.
I have alwyas wanted to cruise through the Panama Canal and of course who else to do with than Disney!!!

But i have some questions if you dont mind answering them.
I am sure i could find them in the thread and IF we make up our mind i will definitley go back and read all this thread.

1. Those with kids HOW are you getting them out of school for such a long period of time....My son is under 18 but out of school but my dd would be 14 and in the 8th grade.

2. We just got off the wonder on a 5 day voyage and spent over $1000 in excursions etc....are any of you concerned with what you could possibily spend for 15 nights or is this a we are on vacca we will pay for it later or is it a will will definitley watch what we spend kind of thing????

3. How many formal nights will there be??

4. Will there be different things than pirate night??

and lastly for now i guess...

5. Do you think that there will be any special deals on this cruise later on that since we are only 5 months out that we should wait out a little bit more for??

WE GT A ROCKIN DEAL FOR OUR 5 night for a FLORIDA RESIDENT SPECIAL.

THANKS...HOPING TO SEE YOU ALL THERE...

Hi Lynn ~~

A couple of responses...
1. Our DD will be a freshman in high school during this trip. Thankfully the school is a big supporter of travel (they have 6 school sponsored trips each year, usually over holiday times). We are working with DD's counselor & teachers to prepare for her long absences -- getting class assignments prior to the Christmas break, bringing her laptop along so she can save & send her work (all classwork is submitted via internet portal and we are hoping that Skype will be available while we are in port so she can 'check in'), along with post-trip reports on the various ports. We know it won't be an easy 'makeup' time, but the opportunity to travel is overwhelming exciting!
5. I've checked the DCL website (my MIL is thinking about this trip too), and there seem to be more category choices this past week than before -- PIF is soon, the rates haven't seem to drop yet but one can hope!!

Hope this helps!

 

[CruznLexi]

I too live in Florida. In the panhandle area. We now have SW so will fly home on them. I think it is 2 weeks until those rates come out. No kids so can't answer that part. I am still hopeful on a discount but not depending on it. We rarely do shore excursions always do something on our own. It is big expense but I am hoping to have a great time..

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Good Morning, Happy Cruisers!



I'm happy to pass on what I read, but mostly people probably won't want my books I don't read fiction. What I have stockpiled so far are Gail Sheehy's Pathfinders, The Senator (about Ted Kennedy), Child of the Holocaust, Women who run with the Wolves, A remarkable woman (Katherine Hepburn) and The long life and turbulent times of 60 minutes (American TV show)

I enjoy all that stuff, actually I read a lot about the kennedys, just read hilary clinton ab, and I dont know I have mentioned but "scullys" ab was one of the best books Ive ever read,

 

[Bookwood]

I'm all in for book sharing I read almost anything but love Debbie MacComber and have recently gotten into Clive Cussler, and also John Patterson- maybe I like books that the characters are so real they could be my friends. Anyway whatever we have we will gladly share when we're done!

 

[DVCinderella]

We're shipping our suitcases back from DL instead of bringing them to the airport. It's about the same price but easier to deal with LAX.

I've never shipped luggage before...how do you do it? Silly question, but does the suitcase need to be boxed? Also, how do you ship them from DL? Are you shipping from the hotel? Or bringing to a UPS Store? If shipping from the hotel, will the hotel charge you a handling fee? I notice in recent years when shipping boxes to/from WDW, that the hotel charges a handling fee, and a delivery fee if you want it brought up to the room.

 

[danfromca]

1. Those with kids HOW are you getting them out of school for such a long period of time....My son is under 18 but out of school but my dd would be 14 and in the 8th grade.

2. We just got off the wonder on a 5 day voyage and spent over $1000 in excursions etc....are any of you concerned with what you could possibily spend for 15 nights or is this a we are on vacca we will pay for it later or is it a will will definitley watch what we spend kind of thing????


5. Do you think that there will be any special deals on this cruise later on that since we are only 5 months out that we should wait out a little bit more for??

1. We're looking at bringing my Godson who will also be entering his freshman year. The plan is an independent study program, but we won't be tackling the school system until later this month when school actually starts.

2. There aren't too many ports, and generally speaking the Mexico excursions are reasonably priced (certainly compared to the European cruise excursions). Still, with a family it can add up. Hopefully we'll have excursions and prices later this month.

5. I would expect to see some category 12 pricing based on the fact that there seems to be a lot of availability. That said, I would not expect the pricing to be that much less than current pricing simply because this is not an expensive cruise on a per-day basis (again compared to the European and even the high season caribbean cruises).

 

[JenKatt]

I've never shipped luggage before...how do you do it? Silly question, but does the suitcase need to be boxed? Also, how do you ship them from DL? Are you shipping from the hotel? Or bringing to a UPS Store? If shipping from the hotel, will the hotel charge you a handling fee? I notice in recent years when shipping boxes to/from WDW, that the hotel charges a handling fee, and a delivery fee if you want it brought up to the room.

There's a UPS or FedEx store at the convention center. We'll just walk them over on Saturday (after we do laundry at the villa). They ship your suitcase as is. We've actually not done it before, but we've researched it out. With a toddler, any way to lighten the load at the airport I am all for.

 

[aan1701]

Right now our two biggest money items are pins and special canal cruise only merchandise. Luckly we are traveling with two DL cast members in our group of 11 so all of on board purchases and photos we will get a %35 discount. We plan on loading a gift card to give to them to pay the on board bill. The other big thing is tips. We are figuring about 150 per person for tips. If a deal comes out for travel industry workers then our tips standard tips will be included. Since we gave been to all the ports but the Costa Rica port (been to Manzinilo on a different cruise) my wife ( She likes to do the excursions and I like to stay in board the empty ship to eat and drink) does not think she will be doing much in terms of excursions. As one other poster said yes the cruise price looks expensive, but we are in a 11B and are only paying 129 a person a night. We feel this is acctuly cheeper than go to WDW in a matter of speeking. Not bad since all food, entertainment and room are included. I too think deals will come out, and if they do we will concider them Vs. the change fees if it gets that close. We just wanted to make sure we had a reservation and then take it from there. As far as theme nights, I hope they get rid of Purate night but I know it won't happen. Trust me there will be plenty of theme nights so dint worry there. As formal nights and such, on the westbound in 08 we had 2 formal and 1 semi-formal. I expect the same here. Well that's it. Good luck. I know you will make the right choice for you and your family.

 

[dizzi]

thankyou for your answers i will let you know my decision.

 

[LindaBabe]

I enjoy all that stuff, actually I read a lot about the kennedys, just read hilary clinton ab, and I dont know I have mentioned but "scullys" ab was one of the best books Ive ever read,

Who is Scully? You are welcome to my books!

Dizzi, there's a Panama canal cruise education thread - you could post there - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2304047

 

[aan1701]

Who is Scully?

You know Mulder and Scully from X-Files. Had to go there.